Guest Chef - Leticia Rasmussen

Leticia Rasmussen is the County Extension Agent – Family and Consumer Science in Burnet County! She is a transplant from Alabama and we are extremely fortunate to have this very talented young lady in Texas. Like nearly all of our guest chefs, her mom taught her to cook. Leticia told me: "My mother taught me how to cook and I still use many of her recipes. Most of those recipes were handed down from my grandmothers.

I am from Alabama so many recipes are good southern recipes. My hostess role model was my grandmother, Archie. She always prepared a great meal and made everyone feel welcome and thoroughly enjoy the time at her home. I think the first food I remember making was Chocolate Chip-Coconut Cookies for a 4-H contest in the 3rd grade. I did not win but I was proud of my cookies."

Family is very important to Leticia and they still enjoy some old traditions. One tradition, and her favorite, is Christmas Punch. Her grandmother made punch every Christmas and only on Christmas Day. It is a special Christmas treat. Another is Christmas decorating. The day after Thanksgiving they always decorate for Christmas. Due to busy schedules, they have moved the tradition up to before Thanksgiving but there is always one decorating day complete with Christmas music. Even though Leticia and her brother are both adults, her mother still insists on exchanging gifts only on Christmas morning.

It is still the most fun.

As the holidays roll around, Leticia shared some very good advice for good cooking and entertaining guests. Her three secrets are:

1. If you try to prepare too much food, you may not be able to finish all of it.

Be realistic about how many dishes you have time to prepare and how much oven and refrigerator space you have. I once tried to make a large quantity of pumpkin pies, which was going along fine until I discovered I had only a few hours left to bake them. The problem was I did not have time to finish them all and put too many in the oven and they did not bake correctly so after trying a few different things and burning one, I ended up throwing out three with only two edible pies.

2. Never underestimate the power of chips and homemade salsa. You can make homemade salsa the day before and everyone loves a good salsa.

3. If you are going to experiment with a recipe, do not plan to serve it to a group of people. Something almost always goes wrong.

If you have drawn Leticia's name for a Christmas gift, she has something on her mind. Leticia got married last year and received many wonderful items but...the Cuisinart 9-cup food processor is still on her list. Her signature dish is Alabama Chicken and White Barbecue Sauce - an authentic Alabama dish. I bet that food processor would be perfect to help her along as she cooks this holiday season. For company I love to prepare Pasta with Peanut Sauce and serve a nice bakery bread. For my family I love to make chili and cornbread.

Leticia graciously shared three recipes with us that I know you will enjoy!

Alabama Chicken and White Sauce

Ingredients:

5 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

3 Tbsp. Vinegar

3 Tbsp. Lemon juice

2 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp Salt

1 Tbsp. pepper

6 Tbsp Mayonnaise

Directions:

Mix last six ingredients together. Pour over chicken. Bake at 305 degrees for 1 hour. Mix up an extra batch of white sauce to pour on chicken with the meal.